How far before its too far

I clean off tape residue, but otherwise don't worry about it. If I'm gonna cut food, I make the sign of the cross and start cutting. Drives my wife nuts, but I'm still kicking. God loves a handy man!
 
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I usually wipe a blade after use, before putting it back in the sheath or pocket. If the blade has something foul on it that I don't want to get on my shorts, I use an alcohol wipe. Leaving gunk on a blade can interfere with cutting.
 
Before and after food I always clean. Work blades keep - say - tape residue on them for a few days, sometimes, too lazy to get solvent out.
 
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I'm not exactly a "neat" guy. My spaces are like my brain... Cluttered and a bit disheveled. One thing I am absolutely anal retentive about is cleaning my knives. Tape residue drives me nuts, and I clean my machete every day when I get home from using it work.

Ms. Wild Willie is the exact opposite, she follows me around when I get home with a dust pan and vacuum (think Pigpen, except with sawdust and it's a good indicator of my arrival state) but leaves tape residue and whatnot on her blades. 🤷‍♂️
 
Normal cutting? End of the day. Nothing fancy, just a rag wipe down. I'll add a drop of oil if carbon steel, and I remember too. Problem cutting like sappy things, fruits, salty things, gooey tape? I try to get to that as soon as I have a few spare minutes.

Kitchen knives after use.
 
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Depends. If I use it at work? As soon as possible after use. Always wipe it off on my pants leg than generally clean it after when I have time. If I'm just around d the house? If I notice it's dirty.
 
Im a wipe it off on my jeans after use kinda guy. Then when it starts getting sticky with tape residue its time for a nice lighter fluid shower and back into the pocket. Now that I am rotating I have 5 blades all working towards a shower.
 
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Kitchen knives I clean meticulously after each use.

Work folder I generally wipe the blade on my pants after use if need be. I’ll clean it if it gets noticeable tougher to open or when I sharpen it which is about once a month or 2.
 
ShaiHulud said:
First off, I hate making new threads but no one is asking, and I've been fiercely curious about this for some time.The question is thus--- How far would you let your knives "go" before cleaning it off?
Some I imagine want it cleaner than an NSF stainless steel counter, others are ok with their knife looking like a used Native indian trade knife
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I "clean it" after I use it. The degree of cleaning effort depends on the contaminant.
>If I was cutting cardboard, I may just blow off any dust.
>If I was cutting a plant, I'll likely wipe the blade on my pants.
>If it got glue or something on it, I'll take it to the sink or use paint thinner on it, then take it to the sink
 
If it’s relatively new (or new to being carried), it gets taken care of for a couple weeks.
If i love it and am using it everyday I won’t clean it until it needs to be sharpened. Then I’ll take it all apart and clean it first.
Just about all of my knives are stainless however.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I generally will wipe a blade off off with some cleaning agent if it's gets dirty before I put it in my pocket. On the jobsite it may have to wait until I get home to literally wash it out in the kitchen sink. That's pretty rare.

Most of the time, if it's water based residue then a quick wipe down with a paper towel or on my jeans. Something more corrosive means it's gets wiped immediately and then at least hosed off in the bathroom sink.

Pretty much all of my EDC knives get a weekly wipe down/blow out regardless of use to keep the lint and grit out of them.

I don't let many of of my tools go dirty, honestly. My dad used to make me wash the mud off the shovels on the jobsite when I was a kid. Not because he cared about them, but what you were using to shovel mud one day might be needed to shovel wet concrete the next and dirty shovels foul concrete.

Proper maintenance doesn't have to be OCD, but just keeping things mostly clean just feels better to me.
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Interesting, I think it's well.. interesting what people do and don't do with their stuff. I'm at the point where unless by leaving it on the knife will cause pitting or corrosion, I'm not going to rush to clean it off. But I probably will when it gets agregious, after all i only own fixed blades so i dont have pivot assemblies or mechanisms to worry about getting gunked up -- thats just me though
 
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tony281sc2 said:
If it’s relatively new (or new to being carried), it gets taken care of for a couple weeks.
If i love it and am using it everyday I won’t clean it until it needs to be sharpened. Then I’ll take it all apart and clean it first.
Just about all of my knives are stainless however.
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I left some blood on my Battle horse to aid in staining it, kind of sort of worked but after i cleaned it off most of the stain also was gone 🤷
 
I'll clean off my knife if it looks dirty, when it gets to the point of bothering me. If I use the knife to cut food I'll wipe it off immediately but I don't feel the need to sterilize it.

There is a saying among older guys- when the knife goes in your pocket it is magically sterilized so you can use it next time without any worry. I realize this is not reality, this is more like the "5 second rule".
 
ShaiHulud said:
First off, I hate making new threads but no one is asking, and I've been fiercely curious about this for some time.
The question is thus--- How far would you let your knives "go" before cleaning it off?
Some I imagine want it cleaner than an NSF stainless steel counter, others are ok with their knife looking like a used Native indian trade knife
Click to expand...
It depends on what I cut.

If I cut packing tape, I clean or immediately; I hate that stuff. If I cut cardboard I don’t, usually.

If I cut food, I clean it immediately. Thinking of it, if I’m ever going to cut food with it, I should clean it all the time.
 
In my current situation, I am retired and I live quietly at home.

When I do get out, my EDC is a Leatherman Wave that lives clipped into the corner of my right front pocket. I sharpen it occasionally and it gets oiled t that time.

In another, earlier set of life times, I worked for a tree service as a climber. Had a Buck 112 in that pocket. Somewhat later on, I worked offshore in the Middle East. At that time I had a Buck 110 in a belt pouch. Both of those knives were used heavily . . .even abused. Clean? With a hose maybe, and maybe later a drop of oil after a few swipes on a coarse-ish stone.

Later on in life, I transitioned to a career in diagnostic imaging at a major teaching hospital, and my EDC transitioned to a series of multi tools. Today, its just the Wave which mostly sees pocket lint.
 
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I clean my work knives & touch up the edge(if needed) at the end of the day. I'm a roofer so I work with tar & asphalt-based materials. My work knives can get pretty gunked up by the end of the day but nothing a little WD40 won't fix.
Knives I use for food get wiped down & sometimes washed, depending on the food mess. If I'm using carbon steel & want to get a patina on them, I just wipe them on my pants or towel.
 
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